Vegan Herb-Crusted Roast with Parsley Potatoes and Onion Gravy
As you know, we love to show you how to cook vegan meals quickly and easily. But as you also know, we find it almost meditative to take our time in the kitchen to cook a dish with several components to which we devote much attention. Because we know that the side dishes and sauces are just as important in the end as the central element on the plate, today we have just such a dish, which is perfect for a vegan Christmas but can also make your Sundays that little bit more special.
The centerpiece is a vegan roast topped with a herb and pistachio crust. It sits comfortably on a hearty onion sauce and is accompanied by boiled potatoes, which we have previously tossed in a buttery parsley and shallot mixture. Oh, when we read it like that, it could just as easily be on the menu of a traditional German restaurant. Except that today, we don't have to be sad that we can't order the dish because none of it is vegan. No, today we can eat everything. Even several portions of it.
All eyes on our vegan roast with herb crust
We already have a few purely plant-based roast alternatives on the blog. But between seitan, nut and lentil roasts, there was still a kind of meatloaf missing. We're filling this gap today by using the VeggieMix meatball from Bauckhof, which you may already know from our vegan meatball burger deluxe. The dry mix is easy to prepare because you simply mix it with water and then leave it to soak for five minutes. However, you can not only prepare small and large vegan meatballs with it but also conjure up a roast worth seeing. The VeggieMix is based on certified organic red beans, which is why it provides a good portion of protein straight away. However, the consistency of the mixture is slightly sticky, which is also perfect for a roast. This means you don't need an egg substitute or anything similar to make the vegan roast stick together.
In addition to the VeggieMix Frikadelle, there are six other varieties that we have used to cook pasta with plant-based Swedish meatballs, ravioli with vegan Bolognese filling or an English breakfast burger, for example. You can find all the ready-made mixes in organic food stores and buy them online in the Bauckhof store. With the code ZUCKER10 you save 10 % on all their products up until 12th January 2024.
Help, the guests are coming – this could be your schedule:
Admittedly, there are a few components to this recipe. If it's possible and you have friends or family coming to visit who like to cook, then it's best to divide up the individual ingredients: some bring the potatoes, others bring the sauce, and the vegan roast you've prepared yourself is already waiting in your oven. However, if this isn't the case, here is a small plan that I would recommend.
Step 1: Prepare everything for the roast and put it in the oven.
Step 2: Prepare the herb crust and set aside.
Step 3: Peel the potatoes, place them in the pan and cook.
Step 4: Chop the parsley and shallots for the potatoes and set aside.
Step 5: Prepare the sauce and leave to simmer.
Step 6: Spread the herb crust over the roast and finish baking.
Step 7: The potatoes should also be cooked by now. Finish them off with chopped parsley and shallots.
Step 8: Serve everything together.
The alternative: If you even have the day before to prepare, you can, of course, make it even more relaxed. Firstly, you can prepare the gravy in advance so that you only have to heat it up the next day. However, you can also prepare the roast until the meatball mixture is in the loaf tin. The herb crust mixture may thicken too much overnight, so I recommend preparing it fresh. The roast then just needs to be placed in the oven. In the meantime, you can cook the potatoes, heat the sauce and prepare the herb crust.
You don't like parsley potatoes?
Oh well, I have to digest that news first. Fortunately, our blog is now bursting with supposed „side dishes“ (although to be honest, a dumpling always becomes a main character for us). For example, how about potato dumplings, bread dumplings, quick pan-fried dumplings or pretzel dumplings? Or do you have an appetite for homemade spaetzle, mashed potatoes or herb polenta? We're sure there's the right side dish for everyone.
Do you want a different sauce?
Here too: ouch. But well, we know that not everyone is a fan of onions. Alternatively, we could offer you a vegetable gravy, a fruity cranberry sauce, vegan cream sauce or a quick red wine sauce.
Vegan Herb-Crusted Roast with Parsley Potatoes and Onion Gravy
Ingredients
For the roast:
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 (approx. 150 g / 5.25 oz) carrots
- 2 packs of VeggieMix Frikadelle from Bauckhof
- 450 ml (2 cups) water
- 2 tbsp (40 g / 1.33 oz) mustard
- 1 tbsp (20 g / 0.75 oz) tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 25 g (0.75 oz) ground hazelnuts
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sunflower seeds
- salt
- pepper
For the herb and pistachio crust:
- 30 g (1 oz) fresh parsley
- 4 tbsp soy flour
- 8 tbsp water
- 10 g (0.33 oz) nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp nut butter
- 2 tbsp (30 g) soft vegan butter
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- 50 g (1.75 oz) pistachios
- 3 tbsp breadcrumbs
- salt
- pepper
For the parsley potatoes:
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) waxy potatoes
- 25 g (0.75 oz) parsley
- 2 shallots
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- salt
- pepper
For the onion sauce:
- 4 onions
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 2 tbsp flour
- 200 ml (0.75 cup) vegan red wine
- 500 ml (2.5 cups) vegetable stock
- 100 ml (0.5 cup) vegan heavy cream
- 1 tsp cornflour
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
To make the vegan roast, first peel and finely dice the onion and garlic. Coarsely grate the carrots. Fry everything together in a pan with vegetable oil for approximately 5 minutes until the onion cubes are translucent. Season with salt and pepper.
Put the VeggieMix for meatballs in a bowl, mix with water and leave to soak for 5 minutes. Then add the sautéed onion, garlic and carrot mixture, mustard, tomato paste, dried thyme and rosemary, soy sauce, ground hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper and mix everything into a vegan meatloaf mixture.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 355 °F (convection heat). Line a loaf tin (approximately 20 cm) with some baking paper so that the vegan roast can be easily lifted out later. Pour the vegan roast mixture into the tin and smooth it out. Then bake for a total of approximately 60 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the herb crust. To do this, wash the parsley, shake it dry and roughly chop. Mix the soy flour and water thoroughly in a bowl. Then add the chopped parsley, nutritional yeast, nut butter and vegan butter and blend everything until you have a vibrant green mixture.
Now, finely chop the rosemary, thyme, and pistachios and add them to the parsley mixture. Stir in the breadcrumbs to thicken the herb mixture and season with salt and pepper. The herb crust mixture should not be too thick nor runny but rather have the consistency of a paste.
About 15 minutes before the end of the baking time, take the roast briefly out of the oven, carefully spread the herb mixture on top and press down lightly. Then, put it back in the oven and finish baking.
While the roast is in the oven, prepare the parsley potatoes. To do this, peel the potatoes and, if necessary, cut them slightly smaller so that they are all the same size. Put all the potatoes in a pan, cover with cold water, add salt and cook for about 20 minutes until they are done. In the meantime, finely chop the parsley and peel and finely dice the shallots and set aside for now.
While the potatoes are cooking, peel and halve all the onions for the sauce and cut into thin slices. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan and sauté the onions over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mustard, mix and fry for a further 2–3 minutes. Then, dust everything with flour, deglaze with vegan red wine, and simmer it again for 2–3 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and vegan cream and leave everything to simmer on low heat until all the other components of the dish are ready.
Tip:: If the sauce is not creamy enough afterward, mix cornflour in a little water and then add to the sauce. Simmer briefly until the onion sauce has the desired consistency.
Drain the cooked potatoes, but put the pan back on the stove. Melt the vegan butter in the pan and sauté the diced shallots for about 2 minutes. Then add the chopped parsley and mix briefly. Return the potatoes to the pan and toss well in the parsley and butter mixture until they are coated all over. Finally, season with salt and pepper.
Finally, remove the vegan roast from the tin and cut into thick slices. Serve with the onion sauce and parsley potatoes.
